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	Intimate Strangers
	Patrice Leconte Sandrine Bonnaire, Fabrice Luchini, Michel Duchaussoy, Anne Brochet, Gilbert Melki, Laurent Gamelon, Hélène Surgère 2004		France's Patrice Leconte directs movies that can be different from one another in setting and purpose, yet most of them strike a delicate balance between psychological drama and sardonic humor. So it is with his "Intimate Strangers," an eccentric, claustrophobic love story that plays out in half-lit private offices. Although it's dissimilar to his glistening, fable-like 1999 picture "The Girl on the Bridge," the dark tone of "Intimate Strangers" falls right in line with "Monsieur Hire," an even earlier offering in Leconte's oeuvre. An attractive, emotionally overwrought woman named Anna makes an appointment with a psychiatrist, chooses the wrong door and ends up spilling her marital problems to William, an introverted tax advisor. During that first visit, William is too moved to let the reticent Anna know he's not a therapist, and he even allows her to make another appointment. Upon her return and further revelations about her rocky marriage, the relationship between the reluctant patient and faux doctor grows beyond the initial dance of deception and wary battle of wits. As characters, Anna and William are off-putting. Conversely, Sandrine Bonnaire and Fabrice Luchini, the French actors playing Anna and William, are inspired. It's a particular pleasure to watch the underrated Bonnaire, who appeared in Leconte's "Monsieur Hire" but is too seldom seen outside her native land.


	Sunday, November 17, 2024





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